


Touch

by iteration



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Community: Meme of Interest, M/M, Pining, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-16
Updated: 2013-04-16
Packaged: 2017-12-08 16:01:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/763275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iteration/pseuds/iteration
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Knowing that Reese is looking for him, and knowing that Reese knows about his own surveillance, is like having a tacit, bilateral, voyeurism agreement. An agreement that has allowed Finch to know that Reese lets people flirt with him, but turns them down. That Reese has been, as far as Finch can tell, sublimating his libido. Well. Until now, apparently.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Touch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [giandujakiss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/giandujakiss/gifts).



part 1

 

Reese is used to being watched.

At his former job, he knew that all the surveillance techniques he learned were being used on him. He knew he didn't have a private life.

At first it felt oppressive. Then he learned not to care. And it didn't feel like anything at all.

But Finch isn't the CIA. Finch doesn't watch Reese because it's protocol. Finch watches Reese because… Well Reese isn't sure. He does it because he's paranoid, but paranoid of what exactly? Reese doesn't know.

All Reese knows, is that it doesn't feel the same. The CIA made him feel like they were allowed to know everything about him while he didn't know a thing about them. This isn't like that. It doesn't feel dehumanizing, it feels… Different.

*

One day, he strikes up a conversation at the dog park. Well. Someone strikes up a conversation with him, anyway. The owner of a _really_ adorable sheepdog is chatting him up, saying it might be nice to get some coffee. Together.

"Your dog is so beautifully trained. Did you go to a school with him, or have you trained dogs before?"

The sheepdog owner - name: Aiden - takes Reese to a coffee stand nearby. Aiden reaches up to touch Reese's shoulder while they talk. Reese folds down over him, feels like he's playing make-believe with the normal world. Go to the park on a beautiful day, get his flirt on. Normal people do that.

It comes out of Reese's mouth before he even knows he's going to say it: "tell me, Aiden, do you live nearby?"

Aiden looks up at him from under his lashes. Runs his hand down the length of Reese's arm. "Yeah", he says.

*

Reese is pretty sure Finch is going to stop watching and listening at some point. Probably. He backs Aiden into a wall and puts his mouth on his neck; breathes in. Thinks that Finch couldn't possibly have a camera in Aiden's (pretty nice) apartment. He kisses Aiden. If anything Finch is only listening in. Reese sticks his tongue in Aiden's mouth. Aiden groans. Maybe Finch has already stopped listening in.

Reese leaves quickly, before even taking his coat off, and before getting to third base. He uses Bear as an excuse.

 

part 2

 

Finch enjoys watching Reese flirt. Likes seeing the look in their eyes. Reese always turns them down. He turns down the younger women thrusting their cleavage up at him. He turns down the towel-wearing men in locker rooms. He turns down the victims who look up at him like he's prince charming come to save them. And he's definitely going to turn down this twink at the dog park.

Finch hears Reese say "tell me, Aiden, do you live nearby?" and it takes an embarrassingly long time to grasp what just happened. When the other man runs his hands down Reese's arms, Finch jerks back in his chair, removes his glasses. Puts them back on. He realizes, with a shock, that he hasn't planned for this kind of situation. The kind of situation where Finch is right there watching when Reese finally decides to have a personal life. The kind of situation where Reese might put his hands on someone else. Recreationally.

Finch glances back at the screen. They're walking. Reese looks at Aiden through half-lidded eyes. the dogs cavort happily. A light breeze ruffles Aiden's hair. He seems… limber.

Finch turns off all the surveillance equipment. Takes a deep breath. By the time he's finished his cup of tea, he is calm.

*

Finch knows the specific moment his attraction began. He'd never been indifferent to John, but one moment stood out - it was during that business with Sarah Atkins and her US Marshall husband. When John went in to the US Marshall office, reckless, he'd felt a surge of arousal which had left him… exasperated. With himself. Aroused by John's violence. How inconvenient.

 

part 3

 

"John you're here… early"

Reese stares at the floor, embarrassed. He would rather see Finch than… He feel like it must be all over his face. _Finch, I would rather be with you_ , his face must be saying. _I would rather sit here, listen to you obliquely casting aspersions on my intelligence._

When Reese looks up, he sees Finch look as surprised as Reese has ever seen him. Like he didn't expect to see him.

"Did you have a nice walk?"

John hesitates. "We did, but Bear missed you"

*

They spend the rest of the afternoon in the library. Finch has work to do. John grabs a book; sits by the window.

Sometimes, Reese wonders what Finch would have been like in school. He must have spent long hours at the library. Would he have been all alone, or with study partners? Or maybe not. When Finch was an undergrad, would he have had to use those gigantic computers that took up a whole room? Reese doesn't know. If so, they definitely wouldn't have been at the library. Either way: he would probably have been lonely. Probably have been wishing that people were as logical as FORTRAN. Reese pictures him with taped-up glasses and a cardigan. Wonders if he would have gotten along with undergrad-Finch.

Reese looks at Finch, sitting at his desk. Wrists poking out from his jacket sleeves. Jaw working a bit in concentration. Finch doesn't move at all, doesn't even reach out to touch his glasses - he must be really focused. Reese wonders if Harold looks exactly the same when he's here on his own. Reese has never been able to do surveillance on the inside of the library, so he doesn't know.

Right from the start, Reese always assumed that Finch knew when he was being watched. When Reese was following him. It would have been absurd to think otherwise. Reese kept doing it because he thought Finch might want to observe his skills from the mark's vantage point (surely Finch would be a connoisseur of surveillance techniques, at this point? Reese thought he would appreciate it.) Also, in Reese's experience, everyone, _everyone_ slips up at some point. So Reese thought Finch would let something through, eventually. Something about himself… But instead Finch seemed to decide when to reveal things almost as a _didactic_ technique. Like: "congratulations Mr Reese, as a gesture of support for the 200+ hours of surveillance you have conducted, here is an infinitesimally small amount of information about myself." Or: "ah, Mr Reese, you have assembled these pieces of information in a manner that almost successfully mimics intelligence! Here is another woefully tiny morsel knowledge about me." Or that's what if felt like, anyway.

The worst part was, Reese started to like it.

 

part 4

 

Finch watches Reese because he can't help it.

In fact, Harold Finch conducted surveillance on Mr Reese long before they officially met.

Sometimes Harold wonders if John even realizes that. If John has ever thought that, prior to meeting him, Harold had watched him wander around New York, for weeks. Had kept tabs on his activities. Had checked that he really was as skilled, as competent, as his past employment record would suggest. It was due diligence, really. Harold was a careful investor.

But then, once Reese was his employee, Finch continued the surveillance - telling himself that he was just looking after an asset, after all. That the mission was too important to be squeamish about privacy. That he had to know that he could count on Reese. And he had to know that Reese was safe. It was for the greater good.

And then one day he realized that Reese had proven himself to be trustworthy and reliable. He realized that there was just no need to check up on him. John could take care of himself. And he wouldn't abandon Finch. Even if Finch told him to. Which meant that there was no justification for the surveillance on Reese. No way to explain why Finch did it. Now, it has become voyeurism.

Moreover, Reese watches Finch. Reese follows Finch - sometimes has other people follow Finch. Reese constantly tries to find Finch, constantly tries to know more about him. Sometimes, Finch wakes up at night and checks his detection protocols for Reese's signature. It is almost like having him nearby. Knowing that Reese is looking for him, and knowing that Reese knows about his own surveillance, is like having a tacit, bilateral, voyeurism agreement. An agreement that has allowed Finch to know that Reese lets people flirt with him, but turns them down. That Reese has been, as far as Finch can tell, sublimating his libido. Well. Until now, apparently.

Finch is distraught. And utterly, utterly irritated with himself.

 

part 5

 

Reese is used to being watched.

Finch watches him and listens to him and as far as Reese knows, he watches and listens to everything. _Everything_. But not today. Today, coming back from the dogpark, Finch was surprised to see him.

Reese doesn't know what that means, but he stores the information in his "things I know about Finch" file. Reese's "things I know about Finch" file is full of the few scraps and crumbs of knowledge Finch has allowed him to have. This - Finch's surprise - will be the first thing on the list that that Finch hasn't deliberately given him. Not that it will make much of a difference - Reese knows all kinds of things about Finch, but they're all inconsequential, and never seem to come together into a coherent whole.

It would drive Reese nuts if he let himself think about it, but Reese mostly gets distracted by the nonstop deluge of people needing to be saved. And he tries not to think about it, anyway.

Broadly speaking, it's better not to think. Kara taught him that. She taught him to suppress every impulse that wasn't directly related to the job. Feel like talking to your now-married ex? Suppress. Feel like asking questions about the mission the CIA just gave you? Suppress. Need a hug? Think about something else. Haven't gotten laid in months? Just use that energy to better punch your mark in the face.

John knows he can live differently now - knows Finch wants him to be a human being, not a weapon. But he's never tried, not really, until today.

So John looks up at Finch again. Looks at the set of his shoulders, at his jawline, at the nape of his neck. John thinks: _who are you? Why were you surprised to see me earlier? Why didn't you know I'd left Aiden's place? Why had you stopped watching?_ Abruptly, Finch's eyes flick up towards him.

And suddenly, Reese gets it.

 

part 6

 

Finch spends the next week in a daze. The passage of time does not always feel real; sometimes, he feels as though part of him is still in the library, freshly shocked to see Reese. Yet time does pass, and lives do continue to need saving. Perhaps it

Reese, for his part, seems subdued.

in a coffee shop - they're both watching a couple of students who, it is eventually surmised, are not a couple, but rather, two friends fighting their very obvious attraction to each other. Knees constantly knocking together under the counter, one's hands continuously hover over the other's shoulders, never quite touching, always jumping away just before contact. Their eyes slide over each other, looking at the places where their t-shirts ride up.

These hopelessly-in-love friends are in danger, as it turns out, because the barista - one of those espresso competition trophy-holders - has mistaken one of them for a rival from another café. He only means to make the poor youth ill; he can't know about the allergy.

Finch, in an effort to focus on work, is taking a more hands-on approach today, giving Reese moment-by-moment directions. Finch's voice is nearly constant in Reese's ear, telling him to

"move your right arm upwards so that his eyes follow your hand - yes - and grasp the purgative with your left hand - yes - now say "do you have Sweet Tooth, from Ritual Roasters?" - when he starts ranting, replace the missing purgative bottle with the second identical bottle - good. That was satisfactory. Mr Reese, you may leave"

Reese, docile, heads towards the door. But he looks up towards one of the surveillance cameras before leaving and Finch sees his flushed face, his dilated pupils.

Finch feels rather worked up himself. _Those students_ , he thinks, _their chemistry, something about it…_

But he knows it's not really about the students. He's had a theory about this for a long time, has just put off looking for evidence.

*

Alone, in the darkened library, Harold digs up some security footage. Part of him knows what he is going to see, but he is apprehensive all the same. He generally tries to erase any video feeds in which he can be seen - and the machine often does it for him - but he knows where to look for some footage of the both he and Reese together.

It's all there. The way Reese moves around Finch. The way he responds to Finch telling him what to do. The way Reese looks at him when he thinks Finch isn't paying attention.

 

part 7

 

Finch doesn't look up from the computer screen when Reese walks in the door. He doesn't say anything. They're being quiet.

Reese picks up a book, is paging through it, when Finch steps up behind him. Finch crowds him, up against the bookcase, and puts his hands on Reese's back. He says "continue reading, Mr Reese. Don't turn around."

Reese feels him running his hands down his back. It's like being on a job - having Finch in his ear, hearing only his voice, not being able to see him, but being watched by him. Reese lets it happen.

He feels Finch's breath at the nape of his neck; feels relief wash over him, like something pent-up has come undone.

Suddenly, Finch's left hand comes up to his throat and pulls back, while the right palms his crotch. Reese thrusts up against Finch's hand, breathing unevenly.

"Keep still, Mr Reese" Finch murmurs into his ear, and undoes his trouser fly, one-handed. John stills, erection straining against Finch's hand.

"Good. Good. Now close your eyes, and get down on your knees" Finch tells him, voice calm, as though instructing John to break into an apartment building and disarm a security alarm. Reese gets down to his knees, unhesitating. He's already let Harold take over his life, really.

Finch blindfolds him, and then John hears him moving one of the armchairs, and then - rustling.

"Come, Mr Reese."

John crawls towards Finch's voice, and finds him sitting, pants open, obscene. John - aching, overcome - takes him all the way down. Saliva dribbles down between Finch's legs, and John licks the skin below Finch's shaft, puts his tongue as far as it can reach. Finch's scent wafts up to John, like earth and sweat and intimate, personal things John never thought Finch would share with him.

John moves his mouth up and down on Finch's erection, sucking it, making his throat muscles work around it. He wants to cover himself with the taste of Finch's body, with the smell. He whimpers, and Finch moves a leg, pressing it against John, and John ruts up against it.

Soon, Finch pushes down on John's head, choking him, and comes in his throat with a gasp.

John, spent, rests his head on Finch's lap.

"John", Finch says. "John." He pulls the blindfold off. John does not want to look up - does not want to see what Finch thinks of his filthiness and submission. Does not want to know if Finch only wants to use him and throw him away. He knows he is only a tool in Harold Finch's mission but he -

"John" Finch says, gently. Reese lifts his head. Finch's eyes are huge - "oh, _John_ " he says, helpless, and bends down to kiss him.


End file.
